[RedDevil]

You cannot expect a team of students on a low budget to come up with a car that meets all the safety standards everywhere while the car weighs in at less than half of a small four seater car, and be electric and solar powered and all.

It is road legal because it complies to the rules for self-built and small series cars.
It was the only car in the solar challenge that was officially road legal, and despite that it won its class.

These guys completely redesigned stuff you wouldn't think about, like they made a novel and self-learning dash design. That it took delving into the menus just to raise the temp on the heater, who cares. It had a heater!
They built a car to compete in a solar race in the the Australian desert. But it had many of the comforts a modern car should have.
I bet they did not use the heater a lot